A father in Houston, Texas, decided to have a sit-down with a kid who was bullying his son. A boy named Tamarion was bullying Aubrey Fontenot’s son, Jordan. Fontenot, who owns a tattoo parlor in his Houston community, wanted to find out what was actually going on between his son and this other kid. He sat Tamarion in his car with him to hash out what the reason was behind his bad behavior. The result of the conversation has led to a viral video and an important reminder that a little bit of help and understanding go a long way. Tamarion told Fontenot that he himself was being bullied at school.
“I asked 'Who? You’re big, who is picking on you?' He said 'All the other kids, they make fun of me,'” Aubrey said.
According to Fontenot, Tamarion would get picked on because his clothes were old and dirty. Fontenot followed up to figure out why a young kid like Tamarion was experiencing this kind of stress.
Aubrey says the school hasn’t done much, but teachers did imply there may be something Tamarion isn’t sharing about his home.
A phone call to Tamarion’s mother and Aubrey discovered things were difficult for the family trying to find stability. That was all Aubrey had to hear.
Fontenot went and bought Tamarion some new clothes and made his day. The two boys have a new relationship. Fontenot told a Houston ABC affiliate that it was the honesty of his intentions that made the difference with young Tamarion.
"I came with the energy that he was ready to receive," Fontenot said. "Because a lot of times, just because you want to talk to me doesn't mean I want to talk to you. But I think he just wanted, he was ready to talk to me. He knew that I cared. He saw it in my eyes."
Children being neglected by our society don’t disappear. One way or another they affect our communities. It behooves us to help accept those young people into our communities in the ways we would want ourselves to be accepted. So far, the results have been pretty good.